Here is a lovely, nostalgic set for voice and trio of reed instruments, based on poetry of Amy Lowell (1874-1925). Specifically, it comes from her “24 Hokku on a Modern Theme”. Nowadays we call these short poems “Haiku”. She was interested in things Oriental, and it is possible that some of the collection are translations from Chinese. But it doesn’t matter. I have selected 12 of them and put them in an order, played without a break, that tells a story of flowers and lost love. The Haiku are vague, and so is the story – all perfectly appropriate in my view. As an example, here is #6 (from which the title of my work is derived):

Watching the iris,
The faint and fragile petals–
How am I worthy?

The accompaniment consists of 3 double-reed instruments, which I felt was perfect to express the loneliness of the lines, especially the English Horn which I have always loved for it mournful quality. And as I was writing, it occurred to me that the bass clarinet would work too, in place of the bassoon. I played bass clarinet half a century ago when I was a student, and I love to use its rich sound wherever I can.